


skateboard lessons

by scumfuck



Category: IT (2017)
Genre: M/M, Reddie, i don't think it'd trigger anything tbh, mentions of blood but nothing too bad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-10 23:38:37
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13512156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scumfuck/pseuds/scumfuck
Summary: "Hey, how 'bout this." Richie sat up straight and squinted at Eddie through thick glasses. "If you let me teach you how to skate, I'll..." he pondered for a moment, tapping his finger against his chin. "I'll do your homework for a whole semester."





	skateboard lessons

**Author's Note:**

> no this is rlly stupid but lmk your thoughts anyways

Eddie Kaspbrak was a careful human being. He  _never_ got hurt. It didn't happen. To be quite honest, he despised having to put on band-aids on anyone else's cuts other than his friends. The mere thought of open wounds - even from the slightest of a paper cut - and all of the diseases that could be spread or infections that could grow, was sickening to the boy. 

But being friends with Richie Tozier wasn't always a safe trip. 

"One ride, Eddie, please?" The boy whined. He had grown some since the summer before, Eddie had noticed. A whopping 5 inches in a couple months, all gangly legs and a long torso that only slightly towered over him (but he would never admit it).

"I'm not riding on a fucking skateboard, dumbass," Eddie spat, a little too harsh for his own good. He crossed his arms over his chest and glanced away, rearing back. "I... Don't have the shoes for it." 

Richie laughed and looked down at his own worn in sneakers. "Yeah, me neither." 

It was only the two of them that summer day. It was July, meaning that Beverly was back with her aunt after a week long visit to Derry; Bill's parents had dragged him on a vacation to some cabin in Vermont; Mike's grandfather made him pay special attention to their sheep this year; And Ben and Stan simply didn't want to go outside on such a hot day. 

Richie sat down on his skateboard and rolled with the heels of his feet to the shade of a nearby tree. The sun beat down hot on Eddie's back and he followed his friend. 

"Hey, how 'bout this." Richie sat up straight and squinted at Eddie through thick glasses. "If you let me teach you how to skate, I'll..." he pondered for a moment, tapping his finger against his chin. "I'll do your homework for a whole semester." 

Eddie blinked. It was obvious the boy would never follow through with this plan even if he did end up agreeing to it, but it was worth a shot. Even if he got to squeeze a week out of him. Eddie rapped his tennis shoes against hot pavement for a moment before nodding. 

"Alright, deal." It couldn't be that hard, right? 

Richie grinned wide enough Eddie could see every single tooth in his mouth and stood up proudly. Then, he hopped off his board and took them to stand in the middle of the empty street in front of his house. 

"Alright, Edward, hop on!" He spoke in an obnoxious accent. Eddie did as he was told.  _No homework,_ he thought to himself bravely. When stepping on, however, the board moved underneath his weight, the wheels spinning slightly and the wood tilting towards Richie. 

Eddie grabbed for Richie's shoulder and gripped onto it tightly, his eyes wide as the board continued to move, taking his feet along with it. 

It stopped suddenly, and was rolled back to its original place. "Woah, there!" Richie's leg was keeping it steady. "Eds, you silly boy! You're standing on it wrong." He held the shorter boy by his hips and turned him the other way. Eddie's arms shot out to desperately try and balance himself. 

A soft chuckle behind his ear. "Easy there, I got you Eddie." 

Eddie felt himself grow red. "Shut the fuck up. This isn't fair." 

Another chuckle, and then Eddie felt another weight on the board behind him. "What's not fair?" 

Eddie didn't reply.

"You have to find your balance, Eds. Relax a little," he explained.  Eddie found it a bit hard to relax when he was trying his hardest to learn how to skateboard, and, for Christ's sake, a boy's fucking hand was on his waist, maneuvering him to the right so his foot was half-on-the-board and half-off. 

"Yeah, okay," Eddie said, not feeling up to giving up the challenge yet. "What's next?" 

"Okay, you see how I have a foot on the ground right now?" Eddie glanced behind him and oh, he didn't notice that until now. He craned his neck a little and Richie was smiling at him; he nodded and spun back around. "I'm going to let go of it, 'kay?" 

"What?!" Eddie was already making for grabs into the air. The grip on his waist tightened a little.

"You have to stop the board from moving, okay? It's not that hard," Richie went on. Eddie could have gone on an hour long speech about every single thing that was wrong about their situation at that moment, he could have had a fucking TED talk, but his breath was knocked out of him when Richie actually let go. And pushed them off. 

The skateboard was moving, it was actually fucking moving, and if Eddie wasn't freaking out, he would have thought it was kind of fun. There was even a breeze in his face.

"Now, stop us, Eddie," Richie ordered. Eddie didn't move. 

"What?" He hadn't even realized until now that his eyes were closed. When he opened them, there was the curb of a sidewalk coming way too close, way too quickly. 

"Stop us." Again, Eddie didn't move. He braced himself for the impact of hitting the curb, but again, the board stopped. 

Richie laughed a little and Eddie looked down to see his battered sneaker on the road.

"Sorry," he mumbled defeatedly. He hopped off the skateboard. Richie reached out and tugged on his chin. 

"Don't be sorry, Eddie! It wasn't your fault. D'you wanna try again?" In fact, riding the skateboard a second time was the last thing Eddie wanted to do. However, Richie's eyes were wide and young and fun, and fuck it, there was nothing else he could have been doing. 

"One more try. M'kay?" He punctuated his sentence with a kick at a stray pebble.

Richie grabbed his wrist and pulled him onto the wood again. "Gonna get it this time, alright? I know you will," Richie said, and Eddie believed he was joking before he saw a truthful smile on Richie's goofy face. 

"Yeah," he replied. 

"Okay, I'm gonna hold you this time. You put one foot in front of the other," the boy said. Eddie obliged. It felt less wobbly than before, now that Eddie could see his friends foot firm behind his own. "Now, I want you to push off," he continued. 

"Nuh-uh. No. Nope." Eddie made do to step off, but Richie brought a strong hand to his hip. When he glanced over, he had a determined gaze in his eyes. 

"I can hold your hand if it's too scary, Eddie-darling," Richie said in a high pitched voice, pretending to sound like Mrs Kaspbrak. 

"Oh, fuck off." Eddie's eyes rolled. But Richie's hand found his nonetheless, and the board lost weight, meaning that he removed his foot, too. 

"Just push off, I've got you, Eds," a gentle, familiar, coo told him. Eddie complied and lifted his foot, pressing it into the solid ground beneath him and letting himself relax fully as he moved on squeaky wheels. 

"There, now you've got it!" Eddie laughed happily, his hand gripping Richie's sweaty palm as he dragged him along the road. 

But it was with only one slip of the foot and a little too much confidence that had Eddie tripping over his own feet. And, ultimately, Richie as well. 

It was a harsh scrape on the knee, and on the palms of his hands, that let small prickles of blood come to the surface of his skin. He was toppled over, sitting on his ass in the middle of the street. The flipped over skateboard lay next to him, revealing a disgusting drawing of a woman in front of an orange background.  He would have commented on how stupid the back of the board was, had he not felt tears flood the corners of his eyes, begging to be let loose. 

Then, Richie was kneeling in front of him, feigning concern, an apology on his lips. 

"God, shit, Eddie I'm sorry, I didn't think you'd fall," he said all too quickly for Eddie to really comprehend. 

Eddie didn't know if it was the embarrassment from what happened, or the actual physical pain, but he let his tears fall. They traveled down his cheeks in wet drips, falling off of his jaw and onto his thighs. 

He felt soft hands brush his hair back, then cradle his cheek gently. "No, don't cry, baby, please don't cry." 

Eddie hiccuped, his stomach churning as he stared up at Richie with bleary fucking eyes, wanting to go home.

"I-" Another hiccup. "I'm... so fucking stupid," Eddie huffed, sniffling and reluctantly letting the pad of Richie's thumb swipe away the last of his tears.

Richie chuckled and brought his hand back, and for a moment Eddie wondered if he was crying too. He brushed it off and rubbed his knuckles at his own eyes. 

"Hey," the hand was under his chin again, pulling his head up so the only thing he could see was Richie's magnified eyes and dark lashes. And then those eyes fluttering shut and a soft press to his own lips. It was light, soft and quick, and Eddie's breath audibly hitched when the taller boy pulled back. The hand smoothed Eddie's hair down again, bitten fingernails trailing along his scalp gently. It made Eddie's heart beat at a strikingly unusual pace. 

"You're not stupid, idiot." 

He was still close enough where when he laughed, Eddie felt it ghost over his lips, and it felt just as soft as the press of the kiss. 

It was quick when Richie stood up, and reached for Eddie's forearm, not wanting to hurt the palms of his sticky hands anymore. Eddie let himself be pulled up. He stood on the heels of his feet and winced at the feeling of his scarred knees bending, but didn't say anything. Richie grabbed the almost forgotten skateboard and linked his elbow with Eddie's. 

"Let's get you fixed up, yeah?" Richie's eyebrows were raised a little, and his lips were pulled upwards warmly. 

Eddie paused, and looked down at Richie's lips before focusing on his eyes again. "Yeah, Rich." 

And it was ceremonial, kind of astounding, that a boy could distract Eddie enough where he couldn't even begin to think about the cuts on his own skin. Or, moreover, all of the possible illnesses he could have gathered simply by being in contact with another person while having his own blood on his skin. Funny, he thought, how you really couldn't be so careful on a skateboard. 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is @scumschmuck if you'd like to read this there :)


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